Catching threadfin herring inside Government Cut.

This leads us to our next tactical change that should be considered when targeting sailfish in the summer. Most local anglers know that in the winter and spring the bite could be best at any stretch of water along the edge. It usually corresponds to bait movement, water color and current. In summer, we don’t have the same bait schools migrating along the reefline. This is when wrecks are especially viable for sailfishing. Like any type of fishing: Find the bait, you’ll find the fish, and a wreck is a great place to start. Miami-Dade County hosts the largest numbers of wrecks of any county in the state. The government tally of charted wrecks does not take into account the “private” structures strategically placed with frequency throughout the 1970s and ’80s. While many of these wrecks are a bit too shallow to attract sailfish, there are plenty of them from Bakers-Haulover Inlet on the north end to Triumph Reef on the southern end that are right in optimal sailfish depths. That range is from 100 to 180 feet of water. These are simply the most active depths and by no means the rule.

Locating sailfish solely based on water depth can be tricky. During the winter I have caught sailfish in as shallow as 35 feet, and last April during the Miami Billfish Tournament, by the second day the color change had pushed out to over 300 feet and that’s where the bite was. However, that was very unusual for that time of year. As a guideline, the sails will be found shallower in the winter than in the summer. Rosher qualifies this in his assessment, “I would say that most of the time in the summer, you’re going to find fish in deeper water depths than you would in the winter. There are days in the winter when we’re catching them up in 50 feet to 100 feet, especially when there’s hard current, blue water, north wind; they’re tailing, trying to get out of the current, they’re in tight. Since you don’t have those conditions [in summer] you’ll want to shift your approach to mostly between 150 and 300 feet.” The actual depth you target should be determined by the conditions of the water. “Obviously, zero current and dirty water are the worst two conditions. The fish become very lethargic, but in the summer don’t be afraid to fish as deep as 400 feet or more.”

Nothing can compare to the acrobatics of a sailfish.

This brings us to the most crucial tactic to targeting summertime sails: flexibility.

You have to be able to change your game plan if something is not working. Too many times I hear anglers say, “Yesterday there was a great bite in 160 feet, so that’s where I’m planting my boat today.” This unwillingness to adapt will send many boats back to the docks without seeing a fish. Gather as much information as you can about the previous days of fishing: the when, where, what depth, what bait, water conditions and temperatures, and current strength. Use this information to formulate a plan, but be willing to change if it is not working for you. If your starting point was going to be a wreck in 120 feet and you show up to discover the water is greenish-blue with just a trickle of north current, maybe stay for a drift or two. Give it a shot, but understand the water conditions will probably be better a little farther out. Perhaps a better idea would be to continue east until you find the real edge; dark blue water and a stronger current. Take notice if there is an eddy or rip formed anywhere along this point. Now you can go back and try your wreck, but you have a back-up plan if the fish are not holding on your wreck.

Another misconception I hear all too often is where the good bite is: “The fish are all to the north today,” or, “The fish are all south of Fowey.” Don’t get stuck in a rut thinking the fish will always be in one particular zone or another. I found myself doing just that my first season in Miami. For a number of days I kept running south out of Government Cut simply because that is the area I felt comfortable with. I had caught a fair number of sailfish to the south and the rest of the charter fleet was stacked up in this area as well, with most boats concentrated from Key Biscayne to Fowey Light. After a day or two with marginal results, I ran to the north, halfway to Haulover Inlet. We were the only boat around for miles and released twice as many sailfish as any other boat that day. Lessoned learned: Don’t always follow the crowd and be flexible.